Displaying items based on a configuration file

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for displaying messages. The systems and methods include operations for: receiving, by a client device, a plurality of events from a plurality of channels; receiving, by the client device from a server, a configuration file comprising one or more rules for processing the sets of events from the plurality of channels; determining that a first event of the plurality of events is associated with a first event type and that a second event of the plurality of events is associated with a second event type; assigning, based on the configuration file, a first priority to the first event based on the first event type and a second priority to the second event based on the second event type; and displaying, by the client device, the first event and the second event according to the first priority and the second priority.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/804,995, filed on Feb. 28, 2020, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to the technical field ofsocial networks. In particular, the present embodiments are generallydirected to managing message display.

BACKGROUND

As the popularity of social networking grows, social networks areexpanding their capabilities. To improve ease of use, social networksare integrating more and more functions such that a user may accomplishmany or even most of their computer-based tasks within the socialnetwork itself. One vision of social networks is that they eventuallybecome a virtual operating system, from which a user seldom finds a needto remove themselves.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. To easily identifythe discussion of any particular element or act, the most significantdigit or digits in a reference number refer to the figure number inwhich that element is first introduced. Some embodiments are illustratedby way of example, and not limitation, in the figures of theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network,according to example embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating data which may be stored inthe database of a messaging server system, according to exampleembodiments.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a messagegenerated by a messaging client application for communication, accordingto example embodiments.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram showing an example message display system,according to example embodiments.

FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram showing illustrative outputs of themessage display system, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating example operations of the messagedisplay system, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a representative softwarearchitecture, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine able toread instructions from a machine-readable medium (e.g., amachine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein, according to example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The description that follows includes systems, methods, techniques,instruction sequences, and computing machine program products thatembody illustrative embodiments of the disclosure. In the followingdescription, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific detailsare set forth in order to provide an understanding of variousembodiments. It will be evident, however, to those skilled in the art,that embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. Ingeneral, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, andtechniques are not necessarily shown in detail.

Often, users consume media content, and specifically videos, on a userdevice, such as a mobile device. Such media content is typicallyexchanged in chat sessions between users. Sometimes users log on and logoff a server that maintains the contents of the chat sessions. In orderto ensure that the latest chat messages, that were exchanged in the chatsession while the user device has been disconnected from the server, arepresented to the user, a user device synchronizes with the server.Typically, the server will send the content of all the messages thatwere exchanged while the user device was disconnected from the server.Some of these messages are rich in large-sized content, such as videosand images. Synchronizing such content between a server and a userdevice consumes a great deal of processing resources, battery, andnetwork bandwidth which makes synchronization sessions operateinefficiently. Also, synchronizing such content can take a long timewhich further delays presenting the latest chat messages to the user andcan end up frustrating the users.

In some cases, a user device, receives media content associated withchat sessions from one or more offline sources, such as a real-timepeer-to-peer connection with other user devices or from a pushapplication. After receiving all the content from the server during asynchronization session, and from various other offline sources, theuser device processes the content to generate a summary view of thecontent. Determining what to present in the summary view and how topresent content in the summary view presents is challenging. Forexample, presenting such a summary view in a predetermined way withoutregard to a source or type of content that is presented can result in auser missing important information.

The disclosed embodiments improve the efficiency of using the userdevice by providing a system that efficiently controls how and whencertain information is presented to a user, particularly in a summaryview of a communication session. According to the disclosed system, aserver provides a configuration file to a user device for controllinghow and when certain types of events are presented on the user device.The user device receives a plurality of events, such as messages ofconversations or presence notifications or indications, from a pluralityof channels. Such channels can include real-time peer-to-peerconnections, push notifications, and information that is pulled from theserver in a synchronization operation. The user device processes theevents, based on the configuration filed received from the server, toassign priorities to the events. The user device then presents theevents that are received according to the assigned priorities. In somecases, the user device generates a summary view of one or moreconversations that includes events associated with the conversationsbased on the priorities assigned to the events according to theconfiguration file.

In some cases, the server processes the content of all of the messagesfrom multiple conversations in which the client device is involved. Theserver applies a complex model that specifies various rules andheuristics for identifying important messages in the conversations. Theserver then generates a summary that includes only those importantmessages. When the user device ultimately requests to synchronize itscontent with the server, the server provides data representing thesummary to the user device. The user device can then generate a summaryview of the conversations in which the user device is involved based onthe summary received from the server. In this way, the user deviceavoids having to process locally all of the content from the messages togenerate the summary view. The user device is provided sufficientinformation from the server about the conversations to generate thesummary view. In generating the summary view based on the summaryinformation received from the server, the user device applies thepreviously received configuration file to prioritize the content that isincluded in the summary view. Particularly, the configuration filedetermines which content to selectively present and how that content issorted or visually represented in the summary view.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system 100 forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network106. The messaging system 100 includes multiple client devices 102(e.g., user devices), each of which hosts a number of applications,including a messaging client application 104 and a third-partyapplication 105. Each messaging client application 104 iscommunicatively coupled to other instances of the messaging clientapplication 104, the third-party application 105, and a messaging serversystem 108 via a network 106 (e.g., the Internet).

Accordingly, each messaging client application 104 and third-partyapplication 105 is able to communicate and exchange data with anothermessaging client application 104 and third-party application(s) 105 andwith the messaging server system 108 via the network 106. The dataexchanged between messaging client applications 104, third-partyapplications 105, and the messaging server system 108 includes functions(e.g., commands to invoke functions) and payload data (e.g., text,audio, video, or other multimedia data). Any disclosed communicationsbetween the messaging client application 104 and the third-partyapplication(s) 105 can be transmitted directly from the messaging clientapplication 104 to the third-party application(s) 105 or indirectly(e.g., via one or more servers) from the messaging client application104 to the third-party application(s) 105.

The third-party application(s) 105 and the messaging client application104 are applications that include a set of functions that allow theclient device 102 to access a message display system 124. Thethird-party application 105 is an application that is separate anddistinct from the messaging client application 104. The third-partyapplication(s) 105 are downloaded and installed by the client device 102separately from the messaging client application 104. In someimplementations, the third-party application(s) 105 are downloaded andinstalled by the client device 102 before or after the messaging clientapplication 104 is downloaded and installed. The third-party application105 is an application that is provided by an entity or organization thatis different from the entity or organization that provides the messagingclient application 104.

The third-party application 105 is an application that can be accessedby a client device 102 using separate login credentials than themessaging client application 104. Namely, the third-party application105 can maintain a first user account and the messaging clientapplication 104 can maintain a second user account. For example, thethird-party application 105 can be a social networking application, adating application, a ride or car sharing application, a shoppingapplication, a trading application, a gaming application, or an imagingapplication.

The messaging server system 108 provides server-side functionality viathe network 106 to a particular messaging client application 104. Whilecertain functions of the messaging system 100 are described herein asbeing performed by either a messaging client application 104 or by themessaging server system 108, it will be appreciated that the location ofcertain functionality either within the messaging client application 104or the messaging server system 108 is a design choice. For example, itmay be technically preferable to initially deploy certain technology andfunctionality within the messaging server system 108, but to latermigrate this technology and functionality to the messaging clientapplication 104 where a client device 102 has a sufficient processingcapacity.

The messaging server system 108 supports various services and operationsthat are provided to the messaging client application 104. Suchoperations include transmitting data to, receiving data from, andprocessing data generated by the messaging client application 104. Thisdata may include message content, client device information, geolocationinformation, media annotation and overlays, virtual objects, messagecontent persistence conditions, social network information, and liveevent information, as examples. Data exchanges within the messagingsystem 100 are invoked and controlled through functions available viauser interfaces (UIs) of the messaging client application 104.

Turning now specifically to the messaging server system 108, an APIserver 110 is coupled to, and provides a programmatic interface to, anapplication server 112. The application server 112 is communicativelycoupled to a database server 118, which facilitates access to a database120 in which is stored data associated with messages processed by theapplication server 112. Any system, application, or componentimplemented by the application server 112 may be in the alternative orin addition be implemented on respective client devices 102. As anexample, the message display system 124 may be implemented exclusive orin combination on the application server 112 or on a given client device102.

Dealing specifically with the API server 110, this server 110 receivesand transmits message data (e.g., commands and message payloads) betweenthe client device 102 and the application server 112. Specifically, theAPI server 110 provides a set of interfaces (e.g., routines andprotocols) that can be called or queried by the messaging clientapplication 104 and the third-party application 105 in order to invokefunctionality of the application server 112. The API server 110 exposesvarious functions supported by the application server 112, includingaccount registration; login functionality; the sending of messages, viathe application server 112, from a particular messaging clientapplication 104 to another messaging client application 104 orthird-party application 105; the sending of media files (e.g., images orvideo) from a messaging client application 104 to the messaging serverapplication 114, and for possible access by another messaging clientapplication 104 or third-party application 105; the setting of acollection of media data (e.g., story); the retrieval of suchcollections; the retrieval of a list of friends of a user of a clientdevice 102; the retrieval of messages and content; the adding anddeleting of friends to a social graph; the location of friends within asocial graph; access to user conversation data; access to avatarinformation stored on messaging server system 108; and opening anapplication event (e.g., relating to the messaging client application104).

The application server 112 hosts a number of applications andsubsystems, including a messaging server application 114, an imageprocessing system 116, a social network system 122, and the messagedisplay system 124. The messaging server application 114 implements anumber of message processing technologies and functions, particularlyrelated to the aggregation and other processing of content (e.g.,textual and multimedia content) included in messages received frommultiple instances of the messaging client application 104. As will bedescribed in further detail, the text and media content from multiplesources may be aggregated into collections of content (e.g., calledstories or galleries). These collections are then made available, by themessaging server application 114, to the messaging client application104. Other processor- and memory-intensive processing of data may alsobe performed server-side by the messaging server application 114, inview of the hardware requirements for such processing.

The application server 112 also includes an image processing system 116that is dedicated to performing various image processing operations,typically with respect to images or video received within the payload ofa message at the messaging server application 114. A portion of theimage processing system 116 may also be implemented by the messagedisplay system 124.

The social network system 122 supports various social networkingfunctions and services and makes these functions and services availableto the messaging server application 114. To this end, the social networksystem 122 maintains and accesses an entity graph within the database120. Examples of functions and services supported by the social networksystem 122 include the identification of other users of the messagingsystem 100 with which a particular user has relationships or is“following” and also the identification of other entities and interestsof a particular user. Such other users may be referred to as the user'sfriends. Social network system 122 may access location informationassociated with each of the user's friends to determine where they liveor are currently located geographically. Social network system 122 maymaintain a location profile for each of the user's friends indicatingthe geographical location where the user's friends live.

The message display system 124 manages display of conversations ormessages exchanged in a communication session. FIG. 4A is a blockdiagram showing an example message display system 124, according toexample embodiments. Message display system 124 includes a communicationsession module 414, a summary generation module 416, and a messagedisplay module 418. The communication session module 414 enables usersto engage in a communication session to exchange messages with eachother. In some cases, the communication session includes a group ofthree or more users in which case any message sent by one user isviewable by the other two users in the group. In some cases, thecommunication session includes only two users where one user sendsmessages to another user and vice versa.

After initiating a communication session using the communication sessionmodule 414, messages are transferred between the user of the clientdevice 102 and other users of the communication session using thecommunication session module 414. For example, the communication sessionmodule 414 receives a message from a first user in the communicationsession and marks the message for transmission to a second user in thecommunication session. The communication session module 414 sends themessage for storage on the server along with various informationindicating the recipient, the communication session identifier, asequence number, an identifier of the sender, and a timestamprepresenting when the message was received.

In some cases, in response to receiving a given message from aparticipant or sender, the server identifies a vector associated withthe participant or sender and the value of the last sequence number thatis stored in the vector. The server increments the value of the lastsequence number that is stored to generate a new sequence number for thegiven message, associates the new sequence number with the givenmessage, and adds the new sequence number to the vector stored for thesender or participant. In this way, each participant of thecommunication session is assigned a vector with sequence numbersrepresenting messages sent by the respective participants.

When the second user logs into the message application, thecommunication session module 414 of the client device 102 of the seconduser provides an identifier of the second user to the server anddetermines whether there are any messages that have not been deliveredyet to the second user and that are intended for the second user toreceive. In some cases, the communication session module 414 provides alast update timestamp of the second user to the server. The serversearches the receive time of all the messages that are intended forreceipt by the second user. The communication session module 414receives from the server those messages that have a receive time that islater than the last update timestamp.

In some embodiments, after the messaging client application 104 logsoff, the summary generation module 416 processes messages that areexchanged in one or more conversations in which the messaging clientapplication 104 of the client device 102 is involved. The summarygeneration module 416 applies a model to the messages to select andidentify messages or conversations that have a high likelihood ofimportance. Such messages are added to a summary that is generated andmaintained by the summary generation module 416. In some cases, thesummary generation module 416 processes past conversations in which theuser of the messaging client application 104 was involved to generateand train a machine learning model to identify conversations or messagesthat have a high likelihood of interest to the user.

In some cases, the application server 112 stores and processes all ofthe messages that are exchanged as part of multiple conversations inwhich a given client device 102 (e.g., via messaging client application104) is involved. The application server 112 applies various heuristics,rules or machine learning models to the messages to identify a messagefrom each conversation or a subset of the conversations that is mostimportant in that conversation. The identified messages are selected bythe application server 112 to be included in a summary view that ispresented on the client device 102. In one example, the summary is anat-a-glance snapshot of the current state of each of a plurality ofconversations in which a given client device 102 is involved. Thesummary view may include the entire contents, or a segment of the lastmessage exchanged in each of the plurality of conversations or anidentification of a video or image that was exchanged in a given one ofthe conversations. In an example, the summary view that is generated bythe client device 102 is based on the summary data obtained from theserver. In another example, the client device 102 locally processes allthe messages that are exchanged in one or more conversations and locallygenerates the summary view based on an analysis and prediction of themost important messages or conversations.

The application server 112 is communicatively coupled to a databaseserver 118, which facilitates access to a database 120 in which isstored data associated with messages processed by the messaging serverapplication 114. Database 120 may be a third-party database. Forexample, the application server 112 may be associated with a firstentity, and the database 120 or a portion of the database 120 may beassociated with and hosted by a second, different entity. In someimplementations, database 120 stores user data that the first entitycollects about various each of the users of a service provided by thefirst entity. For example, the user data includes user names, passwords,addresses, friends, activity information, preferences, videos or contentconsumed by the user, and so forth.

The summary view includes a simultaneous display of a plurality of cellsarranged in one or more columns. Each cell in the plurality of cellsrepresents a particular conversation in which a user of the clientdevice 102 participates. Each cell identifies the conversation by name,participants, subject matter, or other suitable information and mayinclude identifiers (e.g., avatars) of the participants involved in theconversation for the cell. A user can select a given cell to view thecontents (e.g., all the messages, images, and videos) exchanged betweenusers of the conversation.

Each cell also includes a summary field which includes one or moreidentifiers of messages or contents of selected messages from theconversation. Such identifiers of messages or contents correspond tomessages that were exchanged in the conversation after a last time theclient device 102 synchronized its data with the server (e.g., after thelast time all of the content from the server for the conversations wascompletely received from the server). The summary field may include thelast message exchanged in the conversation or a message exchanged in theconversation that is determined and indicated by the server as beingmost important to the user of the client device 102.

FIG. 4B. shows a schematic of an illustrative output of the messagedisplay system 124. For example, the message display system 124 outputsa summary view 420. The summary view 420 includes a plurality ofconversation cells 422 that are interactively selectable. Eachconversation cell 422 in the summary view 420 includes a title of theconversation, a list of participants in the conversation, and a summaryfield 424. The summary field includes important information or eventsthat are selected for display based on the configuration file 207. Thecells 422 are arranged and sorted or visually represented using one ormore icons based on rules in the configuration file 207.

In response to receiving a user selection of a given cell 422, themessage display system 124 retrieves and presents a conversation view432. The conversation view includes a list 432 of events or messagesthat are exchanged between participants of the conversation associatedwith the selected conversation cell 422.

In some cases, the cells themselves are sorted and arranged based onimportance information that is received by the client device 102 fromthe server or that is locally determined by the client device 102. Inone example, messages or conversations are downloaded and received fromthe server in priority order based on importance as indicated by thesummary data received from the server 112 that is generated based on oneor more rules in the model by the server.

To identify which messages in conversations are important, the clientdevice 102 or the application server 112 employs a model. In oneexample, the model includes a set of rules that specify parameters forselecting or identifying messages for inclusion in a summary. Forexample, a first rule or parameter may indicate that a conversation thatincludes a set of messages that include images or videos have a higherpriority as being more important than messages that only include text.This is because the images or videos may form part of a story and needto be viewed in sequence. In such cases, the first rule specifies thatthe first image or video that was exchanged in the given conversationafter the last time the given client device 102 synchronized its contentwith the server be identified as more important than other messages inthe conversation that were exchanged after the last time the givenclient device 102 synchronized with the server. Namely, rather thanselecting the last message exchanged in the conversation as being themost important and for inclusion in the summary, the client device 102selects the first message in a sequence of messages that were exchangedafter the given client device 102 last synchronized with the server andthat includes images or videos. The client device 102 may identifyseveral messages that each include images or videos and may select thefirst of the several messages (e.g., the message with the earliesttimestamp) as being the most important and for inclusion in the summary.

In some cases, a second rule or parameter indicates that messages thatinclude video and audio are more important than messages that includevideo and no audio. In such cases, the second rule specifies that thefirst image or video with audio that was exchanged in the givenconversation after the last time the given client device 102synchronized its content with the server be identified as more importantthan a second image or video without audio in the conversation that wasexchanged after the last time the given client device 102 synchronizedwith the server. Namely, rather than selecting the last messageexchanged in the conversation as being the most important and forinclusion in the summary, the client device 102 selects the firstmessage in a sequence of messages that were exchanged after the givenclient device 102 last synchronized with the server and that includesimages or videos with audio over messages that include images and videoswithout audio.

In some cases, a machine learning model (e.g., a neural network) is usedto identify patterns of user behavior that indicate a likelihood that auser is interested in a conversation or that indicate a likelihood thatone message in a conversation is more important than another message. Insome circumstances, the client device 102 or server 112 generates andtrains a machine learning model on a per user basis. The message displaysystem 124 applies the trained machine learning model to the set ofmessages that are received in one or more conversations to identify aconversation or messages that have a high likelihood that the user isinterested in accessing (e.g., a likelihood value that exceeds athreshold). The trained machine learning model can generate a score thatindicates the likelihood for each conversation or for each message.

In some cases, the communication session module 414 receives events(e.g., messages) that are directed to a user of a given client device102 over a plurality of channels. For example, the communication sessionmodule 414 receives events over a first channel that includes a pullmechanism (e.g., when the client device 102 performs a synchronizationoperation with the server 112). Such events that are received in thepull mechanism may include messages that were exchanged in aconversation in which a user of the client device 102 is involved afterthe last time the client device 102 synchronized its data with theserver. Such events are received by the client device 102 from theserver 112 in response to a specific request by the client device 102 toperform a synchronization operation.

As another example, the communication session module 414 receives events(e.g., messages) over a second channel that includes a persistentbi-directional peer-to-peer link between the client device 102 of theuser and one or more other client devices 102 of other users which areinvolved in a conversation with the user.

As another example, the communication session module 414 receives events(e.g., messages) over a third channel that includes a push mechanism.Specifically, the client device 102 may include a push notificationapplication that is native to the operating system of the client device102. The push notification application may receive messages associatedwith a conversation of the messaging client application 104. The pushnotification application may provide the messages to the messagingclient application 104 (e.g., to the communication session module 414)which then processes the messages for display in a summary view or in aconversation view.

In some cases, messages or events received by the push notificationapplication are instantly presented to the user of the client device 102concurrently with being provided to the communication session module414. The events received over the first, second and third channels maybe of the same type or different types.

In some cases, the second channel is exclusively used to exchangepresence messages or information (e.g., presence events). Presencemessages include transient information or ephemeral informationrepresenting activities of various participants in a conversation. Suchinformation that is received by the communication session module 414 maybe presented in a conversation view or summary view for a thresholdperiod of time and be removed from display. As an example, the presencemessages indicate whether a given user in the conversation is typing,erasing, or viewing a message in a conversation. For example, a firstuser may open a summary view or conversation view that includes aconversation with a second user. A first client device 102 of the firstuser may establish a persistent bi-directional link with a second clientdevice 102 of the second user to exchange presence messages. When thesecond user begins typing a message or when the second user views theconversation session, a notification is sent from the second clientdevice 102 of the second user to the first client device 102 of thefirst user indicating that the second user is typing a message. Thisnotification may be presented as part of the summary view in the summaryfield or within a given region of a conversation.

In some embodiments, the communication session module 414 instructs thesummary generation module 416 to display the summary view on the clientdevice 102 based on a configuration file received from the applicationserver 112. In such cases, the summary generation module 416 retrievesfrom the server 112 a configuration file 207 (FIG. 2). The configurationfile 207 stores one or more rules that specify the order, type andmanner in which content is presented in a summary view to a user on aclient device 102. The rules specify different priorities assigned todifferent types of events or channel types. In some embodiments, theconfiguration file 207 that is stored on the server differs acrossclient device 102, geographical regions, versions of the messagingclient application 104, or other suitable factors. In some cases, thesame configuration file 207 is used for all users of the messagingclient application 104. In cases where the configuration file 207differs, the summary generation module 416 provides client device 102identifier to the server 112. The server 112 searches for aconfiguration file 207 associated with the identifier of the clientdevice 102 and provides the configuration file 207 to the client device102. In such cases, the manner, sort order or type of information orevents that the client device 102 presents to a first user based on theconfiguration file 207 differs than the manner, sort order or type ofinformation or events that another client device 102 presents to asecond user.

After retrieving the configuration file 207, the summary generationmodule 416 may process the events, messages, or conversations in whichthe messaging client application 104 is involved to generate a summaryview. As an example, the summary generation module 416 determines that afirst event of a plurality of events that were received over a pluralityof channels is associated with a first event type and that a secondevent of the plurality of events is associated with a second event type.For example, the first event type corresponds to presence events and thesecond event type corresponds to an image or text message. The summarygeneration module 416 may determine that the rules in the configurationfile indicate that the first event type is of higher priority than thesecond event type. In response, the summary generation module 416assigns, based on the configuration file, a first priority to the firstevent based on the first event type and a second priority to the secondevent based on the second event type.

As another example, the summary generation module 416 determines that athird event of the plurality of events was received over the thirdchannel and that a fourth event of the events was received over thesecond channel. For example, the third event may have been received viaa push notification application and the fourth event may have beenreceived over a persistent bi-directional peer-to-peer link betweenclient devices 102. The summary generation module 416 may determine thatthe rules in the configuration file indicate that events received overthe second channel are of higher priority than events received over thethird channel. Specifically, presence notifications may be indicated asbeing more important than text messages received by a push notificationapplication. In response, the summary generation module 416 assigns,based on the configuration file, higher priority to the fourth eventthan the third event.

The summary generation module 416 provides the events to the messagedisplay module 418. The message display module 418 processes the eventsaccording to their assigned priority and displays a summary view orconversation view according to the prioritized events. In some cases,the message display module 418 selectively displays the first, second,third and fourth events based on their priority. Specifically, themessage display module 418 may display the first event in a summaryfield of the summary view and may not display the second event in thesummary field in response to determining that the first event isassociated with a higher priority than the second event. The messagedisplay module 418 may display the fourth event in a summary field ofthe summary view (for a threshold period of time specified in theconfiguration file 207, such as for three seconds) before displaying thethird event in response to determining that the fourth event isassociated with a higher priority than the third event. In cases wherethe summary generation module 416 and message display module 418 areimplemented on server 112, these modules instruct and case a givenclient device 102 to display the summary view.

In some embodiments, the message display module 418 determines that thefirst event corresponds to a message exchanged in a first conversationand that the second event corresponds to a message exchanged in a secondconversation. In such cases, the message display module 418 sorts theconversation cells presented in the summary view based on theconfiguration file 207. For example, the message display module 418displays a cell representing the second conversation below a cellrepresenting the first conversation because the first event isdetermined to be assigned a higher priority than the second event. Inthis way, the configuration file 207 can be used to control the sortorder of the conversation cells in the summary view on the basis of thetypes of events or on the basis of the type of channel from which eventsassociated with the conversations are received. As another example, themessage display module 418 may display a cell for a third conversationbelow a cell for a fourth conversation in response to determining thatan event for the fourth conversation was received over the secondchannel which is associated with a higher priority than an event for thethird conversation received over the third channel.

In some embodiments, the message display module 418 modifies the mannerwhich conversation cells are presented in the summary view based onrules in the configuration file 207. For example, the message displaymodule 418 displays a cell representing the second conversation in afirst color (e.g., red) and a cell representing the first conversationin a second color (e.g., blue) because the first event is determined tobe assigned a higher priority than the second event. In this way, theconfiguration file 207 can be used to control the manner of display ofthe conversation cells in the summary view on the basis of the types ofevents or on the basis of the type of channel from which eventsassociated with the conversations are received. As another example, themessage display module 418 displays a cell for a third conversation in athird color (e.g., green) and a cell for a fourth conversation in afourth color (e.g., yellow) in response to determining that an event forthe fourth conversation was received over the second channel which isassociated with a higher priority than an event for the thirdconversation received over the third channel.

In some embodiments, the message display module 418 modifies the mannerin which events are presented in the summary view or conversation viewbased on rules in the configuration file 207. For example, the messagedisplay module 418 displays an event that is of a first type using afirst type of icon (e.g., an icon in a first color (e.g., red),timestamp, or with a first subtitle) and an event that is of a secondtype using a second type of icon (e.g., an icon in a second color (e.g.,blue), timestamp, or second subtitle) because the first type of event isdetermined to be assigned a higher priority than the second type ofevent. The configuration file 207 may specify the color scheme ordisplay manner (e.g., the icons to use) that is used to present varioustypes of events or events associated with various priorities. In thisway, the configuration file 207 can be used to control the manner ofdisplay of the event types in the summary view or conversation view onthe basis of the types of events or on the basis of the type of channelfrom which events associated with the conversations are received.

In some embodiments, the summary generation module 416 receives anupdate to the configuration file 207. Specifically, in real-time, theserver 112 may send a new configuration file 207 to the summarygeneration module 416. In response, the summary generation module 416modifies the priorities assigned to various events or conversationsbased on the new rules specified in the updated configuration file 207.As a result, manner, type and sort order of the events or conversationsincluded in a summary view are modified on the fly based onconfiguration file updates received from the server 112.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram 200 illustrating data, which may be storedin the database 120 of the messaging server system 108, according tocertain example embodiments. While the content of the database 120 isshown to comprise a number of tables, it will be appreciated that thedata could be stored in other types of data structures (e.g., as anobject-oriented database).

The database 120 includes message data stored within a message table214. An entity table 202 stores entity data, including an entity graph204. Entities for which records are maintained within the entity table202 may include individuals, corporate entities, organizations, objects,places, events, and so forth. Regardless of type, any entity regardingwhich the messaging server system 108 stores data may be a recognizedentity. Each entity is provided with a unique identifier, as well as anentity type identifier (not shown).

The entity graph 204 stores information regarding relationships andassociations between entities. Such relationships may be social,professional (e.g., work at a common corporation or organization),interest-based, or activity-based, merely for example.

Message table 214 may store a collection of conversations between a userand one or more friends or entities. Message table 214 may includevarious attributes of each conversation, such as the list ofparticipants, the size of the conversation (e.g., number of users ornumber of messages), the chat color of the conversation, a uniqueidentifier for the conversation, and any other conversation relatedfeature(s).

The database 120 also stores annotation data, in the example form offilters, in an annotation table 212. Database 120 also stores annotatedcontent received in the annotation table 212. Filters for which data isstored within the annotation table 212 are associated with and appliedto videos (for which data is stored in a video table 210) or images (forwhich data is stored in an image table 208). Filters, in one example,are overlays that are displayed as overlaid on an image or video duringpresentation to a recipient user. Filters may be of various types,including user-selected filters from a gallery of filters presented to asending user by the messaging client application 104 when the sendinguser is composing a message. Other types of filters include geolocationfilters (also known as geo-filters), which may be presented to a sendinguser based on geographic location. For example, geolocation filtersspecific to a neighborhood or special location may be presented within aUI by the messaging client application 104, based on geolocationinformation determined by a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit of theclient device 102. Another type of filter is a data filter, which may beselectively presented to a sending user by the messaging clientapplication 104, based on other inputs or information gathered by theclient device 102 during the message creation process. Examples of datafilters include current temperature at a specific location, a currentspeed at which a sending user is traveling, battery life for a clientdevice 102, or the current time.

Other annotation data that may be stored within the image table 208 isso-called “lens” data. A “lens” may be a real-time special effect andsound that may be added to an image or a video.

As mentioned above, the video table 210 stores video data which, in oneembodiment, is associated with messages for which records are maintainedwithin the message table 214. Similarly, the image table 208 storesimage data associated with messages for which message data is stored inthe entity table 202. The entity table 202 may associate variousannotations from the annotation table 212 with various images and videosstored in the image table 208 and the video table 210.

Configuration file 207 stores a configuration file that includes one ormore rules for controlling the manner and type of data or events thatare included in a conversation or summary view on a given client device102.

A story table 206 stores data regarding collections of messages andassociated image, video, or audio data, which are compiled into acollection (e.g., a story or a gallery). The creation of a particularcollection may be initiated by a particular user (e.g., each user forwhich a record is maintained in the entity table 202). A user may createa “personal story” in the form of a collection of content that has beencreated and sent/broadcast by that user. To this end, the UI of themessaging client application 104 may include an icon that isuser-selectable to enable a sending user to add specific content to hisor her personal story.

A collection may also constitute a “live story,” which is a collectionof content from multiple users that is created manually, automatically,or using a combination of manual and automatic techniques. For example,a “live story” may constitute a curated stream of user-submitted contentfrom various locations and events. Users whose client devices 102 havelocation services enabled and are at a common location event at aparticular time may, for example, be presented with an option, via a UIof the messaging client application 104, to contribute content to aparticular live story. The live story may be identified to the user bythe messaging client application 104 based on his or her location. Theend result is a “live story” told from a community perspective.

A further type of content collection is known as a “location story,”which enables a user whose client device 102 is located within aspecific geographic location (e.g., on a college or university campus)to contribute to a particular collection. In some embodiments, acontribution to a location story may require a second degree ofauthentication to verify that the end user belongs to a specificorganization or other entity (e.g., is a student on the universitycampus).

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a message 300,according to some embodiments, generated by a messaging clientapplication 104 for communication to a further messaging clientapplication 104 or the messaging server application 114. The content ofa particular message 300 is used to populate the message table 214stored within the database 120, accessible by the messaging serverapplication 114. Similarly, the content of a message 300 is stored inmemory as “in-transit” or “in-flight” data of the client device 102 orthe application server 112. The message 300 is shown to include thefollowing components:

-   -   A message identifier 302: a unique identifier that identifies        the message 300.    -   A message text payload 304: text, to be generated by a user via        a UI of the client device 102 and that is included in the        message 300.    -   A message image payload 306: image data, captured by a camera        component of a client device 102 or retrieved from memory of a        client device 102, and that is included in the message 300.    -   A message video payload 308: video data, captured by a camera        component or retrieved from a memory component of the client        device 102 and that is included in the message 300.    -   A message audio payload 310: audio data, captured by a        microphone or retrieved from the memory component of the client        device 102, and that is included in the message 300.    -   Message annotations 312: annotation data (e.g., filters,        stickers, or other enhancements) that represents annotations to        be applied to message image payload 306, message video payload        308, or message audio payload 310 of the message 300.    -   A message duration parameter 314: parameter value indicating, in        seconds, the amount of time for which content of the message        (e.g., the message image payload 306, message video payload 308,        message audio payload 310) is to be presented or made accessible        to a user via the messaging client application 104.    -   A message geolocation parameter 316: geolocation data (e.g.,        latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates) associated with the        content payload of the message. Multiple message geolocation        parameter 316 values may be included in the payload, with each        of these parameter values being associated with respect to        content items included in the content (e.g., a specific image        within the message image payload 306, or a specific video in the        message video payload 308).    -   A message story identifier 318: identifier value identifying one        or more content collections (e.g., “stories”) with which a        particular content item in the message image payload 306 of the        message 300 is associated. For example, multiple images within        the message image payload 306 may each be associated with        multiple content collections using identifier values.    -   A message tag 320: each message 300 may be tagged with multiple        tags, each of which is indicative of the subject matter of        content included in the message payload. For example, where a        particular image included in the message image payload 306        depicts an animal (e.g., a lion), a tag value may be included        within the message tag 320 that is indicative of the relevant        animal. Tag values may be generated manually, based on user        input, or may be automatically generated using, for example,        image recognition.    -   A message sender identifier 322: an identifier (e.g., a        messaging system identifier, email address, or device        identifier) indicative of a user of the client device 102 on        which the message 300 was generated and from which the message        300 was sent.    -   A message receiver identifier 324: an identifier (e.g., a        messaging system identifier, email address, or device        identifier) indicative of user(s) of the client device 102 to        which the message 300 is addressed. In the case of a        conversation between multiple users, the identifier may indicate        each user involved in the conversation.

The contents (e.g., values) of the various components of message 300 maybe pointers to locations in tables within which content data values arestored. For example, an image value in the message image payload 306 maybe a pointer to (or address of) a location within an image table 208.Similarly, values within the message video payload 308 may point to datastored within a video table 210, values stored within the messageannotations 312 may point to data stored in an annotation table 212,values stored within the message story identifier 318 may point to datastored in a story table 206, and values stored within the message senderidentifier 322 and the message receiver identifier 324 may point to userrecords stored within an entity table 202.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating example operations of the messagedisplay system 124 in performing process 500, according to exampleembodiments. The process 500 may be embodied in computer-readableinstructions for execution by one or more processors such that theoperations of the process 500 may be performed in part or in whole bythe functional components of the messaging server system 108, clientdevice 102, or third-party application 105; accordingly, the process 500is described below by way of example with reference thereto. In otherembodiments, at least some of the operations of the process 500 may bedeployed on various other hardware configurations. The process 500 istherefore not intended to be limited to the messaging server system 108and can be implemented in whole, or in part, by any other component.Some or all of the operations of process 500 can be in parallel, out oforder, or entirely omitted.

At operation 501, a computing system (e.g., client device 102) receivesa plurality of events from a plurality of channels. For example, themessage display system 124 of a client device 102 receives messagesassociated with one or more conversations from a third channel (e.g., apush notification application) and presence notification messages from asecond channel (e.g., a bi-directional peer-to-peer link between clientdevices 102 involved in a conversation).

At operation 502, the computing system receives a configuration filecomprising one or more rules for processing the plurality of events fromthe plurality of channels. For example, the message display system 124retrieves from server 112 a configuration file 207 which includes rulesthat assign priorities to events based on event types or channels fromwhich the events were received.

At operation 503, the computing system determines that a first event ofthe plurality of events is associated with a first event type and that asecond event of the plurality of events is associated with a secondevent type. The message display system 124 determines, based on theconfiguration file 207, the first event includes presence information(e.g., presence notifications) which is a first type of event and thatthe second event includes a text message which is a second type ofevent.

At operation 504, the computing system assigns, based on theconfiguration file, a first priority to the first event based on thefirst event type and a second priority to the second event based on thesecond event type. For example, the message display system 124determines that the rules in the configuration file 207 indicate thatpresence information is associated with a higher priority than textmessages. Namely, the presence information type of events are associatedwith a first priority and text or image messages are associated with asecond priority that is lower than the first priority.

At operation 505, the computing system displays the first event and thesecond event according to the first priority and the second priority.For example, the message display system 124 generates a summary view inwhich the first event is prioritized above the second event (e.g., thefirst event is displayed and the second event is not; the first event ispresented for a threshold period of time before the second event; thefirst event is presented with a first visual indicator or icon and thesecond event is presented with a second visual indicator or icon).

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example software architecture606, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described. FIG. 6 is a non-limiting example of asoftware architecture and it will be appreciated that many otherarchitectures may be implemented to facilitate the functionalitydescribed herein. The software architecture 606 may execute on hardwaresuch as machine 700 of FIG. 7 that includes, among other things,processors 704, memory 714, and input/output (I/O) components 718. Arepresentative hardware layer 652 is illustrated and can represent, forexample, the machine 700 of FIG. 7. The representative hardware layer652 includes a processing unit 654 having associated executableinstructions 604. Executable instructions 604 represent the executableinstructions of the software architecture 606, including implementationof the methods, components, and so forth described herein. The hardwarelayer 652 also includes memory or storage modules memory/storage 656,which also have executable instructions 604. The hardware layer 652 mayalso comprise other hardware 658.

In the example architecture of FIG. 6, the software architecture 606 maybe conceptualized as a stack of layers where each layer providesparticular functionality. For example, the software architecture 606 mayinclude layers such as an operating system 602, libraries 620,frameworks/middleware 618, applications 616, and a presentation layer614. Operationally, the applications 616 or other components within thelayers may invoke API calls 608 through the software stack and receivemessages 612 in response to the API calls 608. The layers illustratedare representative in nature and not all software architectures have alllayers. For example, some mobile or special purpose operating systemsmay not provide a frameworks/middleware 618, while others may providesuch a layer. Other software architectures may include additional ordifferent layers.

The operating system 602 may manage hardware resources and providecommon services. The operating system 602 may include, for example, akernel 622, services 624, and drivers 626. The kernel 622 may act as anabstraction layer between the hardware and the other software layers.For example, the kernel 622 may be responsible for memory management,processor management (e.g., scheduling), component management,networking, security settings, and so on. The services 624 may provideother common services for the other software layers. The drivers 626 areresponsible for controlling or interfacing with the underlying hardware.For instance, the drivers 626 include display drivers, camera drivers,Bluetooth® drivers, flash memory drivers, serial communication drivers(e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers), Wi-Fi® drivers, audiodrivers, power management drivers, and so forth depending on thehardware configuration.

The libraries 620 provide a common infrastructure that is used by theapplications 616 or other components or layers. The libraries 620provide functionality that allows other software components to performtasks in an easier fashion than to interface directly with theunderlying operating system 602 functionality (e.g., kernel 622,services 624 or drivers 626). The libraries 620 may include systemlibraries 644 (e.g., C standard library) that may provide functions suchas memory allocation functions, string manipulation functions,mathematical functions, and the like. In addition, the libraries 620 mayinclude API libraries 646 such as media libraries (e.g., libraries tosupport presentation and manipulation of various media format such asMPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG), graphics libraries (e.g., anOpenGL framework that may be used to render two-dimensional andthree-dimensional in a graphic content on a display), database libraries(e.g., SQLite that may provide various relational database functions),web libraries (e.g., WebKit that may provide web browsingfunctionality), and the like. The libraries 620 may also include a widevariety of other libraries 648 to provide many other APIs to theapplications 616 and other software components/modules.

The frameworks/middleware 618 (also sometimes referred to as middleware)provide a higher-level common infrastructure that may be used by theapplications 616 or other software components/modules. For example, theframeworks/middleware 618 may provide various graphical user interfacefunctions, high-level resource management, high-level location services,and so forth. The frameworks/middleware 618 may provide a broad spectrumof other APIs that may be utilized by the applications 616 or othersoftware components/modules, some of which may be specific to aparticular operating system 602 or platform.

The applications 616 include built-in applications 638 or third-partyapplications 640. Examples of representative built-in applications 638may include, but are not limited to, a contacts application, a browserapplication, a book reader application, a location application, a mediaapplication, a messaging application, or a game application. Third-partyapplications 640 may include an application developed using the ANDROID™or IOS™ software development kit (SDK) by an entity other than thevendor of the particular platform, and may be mobile software running ona mobile operating system such as IOS™, ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, orother mobile operating systems. The third-party applications 640 mayinvoke the API calls 608 provided by the mobile operating system (suchas operating system 602) to facilitate functionality described herein.

The applications 616 may use built-in operating system functions (e.g.,kernel 622, services 624, or drivers 626), libraries 620, andframeworks/middleware 618 to create UIs to interact with users of thesystem. Alternatively, or additionally, in some systems, interactionswith a user may occur through a presentation layer, such as presentationlayer 614. In these systems, the application/component “logic” can beseparated from the aspects of the application/component that interactwith a user.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine 700,according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable medium (e.g., a machine-readable storage medium) andperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.Specifically, FIG. 7 shows a diagrammatic representation of the machine700 in the example form of a computer system, within which instructions710 (e.g., software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, orother executable code) for causing the machine 700 to perform any one ormore of the methodologies discussed herein may be executed. As such, theinstructions 710 may be used to implement modules or componentsdescribed herein. The instructions 710 transform the general,non-programmed machine 700 into a particular machine 700 programmed tocarry out the described and illustrated functions in the mannerdescribed. In alternative embodiments, the machine 700 operates as astandalone device or may be coupled (e.g., networked) to other machines.In a networked deployment, the machine 700 may operate in the capacityof a server machine or a client machine in a server-client networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. The machine 700 may comprise, but not be limitedto, a server computer, a client computer, a personal computer (PC), atablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook, a set-top box (STB), apersonal digital assistant (PDA), an entertainment media system, acellular telephone, a smart phone, a mobile device, a wearable device(e.g., a smart watch), a smart home device (e.g., a smart appliance),other smart devices, a web appliance, a network router, a networkswitch, a network bridge, or any machine capable of executing theinstructions 710, sequentially or otherwise, that specify actions to betaken by machine 700. Further, while only a single machine 700 isillustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include acollection of machines that individually or jointly execute theinstructions 710 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

The machine 700 may include processors 704, memory/storage 706, and I/Ocomponents 718, which may be configured to communicate with each othersuch as via a bus 702. In an example embodiment, the processors 704(e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction setcomputing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC)processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor(DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), aradio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or anysuitable combination thereof) may include, for example, a processor 708and a processor 712 that may execute the instructions 710. The term“processor” is intended to include multi-core processors 704 that maycomprise two or more independent processors (sometimes referred to as“cores”) that may execute instructions 710 contemporaneously. AlthoughFIG. 7 shows multiple processors 704, the machine 700 may include asingle processor 708 with a single core, a single processor 708 withmultiple cores (e.g., a multi-core processor), multiple processors 708,712 with a single core, multiple processors 708, 712 with multiplecores, or any combination thereof.

The memory/storage 706 may include a memory 714, such as a main memory,or other memory storage, and a storage unit 716, both accessible to theprocessors 704 such as via the bus 702. The storage unit 716 and memory714 store the instructions 710 embodying any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 710 mayalso reside, completely or partially, within the memory 714, within thestorage unit 716, within at least one of the processors 704 (e.g.,within the processor's cache memory), or any suitable combinationthereof, during execution thereof by the machine 700. Accordingly, thememory 714, the storage unit 716, and the memory of processors 704 areexamples of machine-readable media.

The I/O components 718 may include a wide variety of components toreceive input, provide output, produce output, transmit information,exchange information, capture measurements, and so on. The specific I/Ocomponents 718 that are included in a particular machine 700 will dependon the type of machine. For example, portable machines such as mobilephones will likely include a touch input device or other such inputmechanisms, while a headless server machine will likely not include sucha touch input device. It will be appreciated that the I/O components 718may include many other components that are not shown in FIG. 7. The I/Ocomponents 718 are grouped according to functionality merely forsimplifying the following discussion and the grouping is in no waylimiting. In various example embodiments, the I/O components 718 mayinclude output components 726 and input components 728. The outputcomponents 726 may include visual components (e.g., a display such as aplasma display panel (PDP), a light emitting diode (LED) display, aliquid crystal display (LCD), a projector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)),acoustic components (e.g., speakers), haptic components (e.g., avibratory motor, resistance mechanisms), other signal generators, and soforth. The input components 728 may include alphanumeric inputcomponents (e.g., a keyboard, a touch screen configured to receivealphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, or other alphanumericinput components), point-based input components (e.g., a mouse, atouchpad, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, or other pointinginstrument), tactile input components (e.g., a physical button, a touchscreen that provides location or force of touches or touch gestures, orother tactile input components), audio input components (e.g., amicrophone), and the like.

In further example embodiments, the I/O components 718 may includebiometric components 739, motion components 734, environmentalcomponents 736, or position components 738 among a wide array of othercomponents. For example, the biometric components 739 may includecomponents to detect expressions (e.g., hand expressions, facialexpressions, vocal expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking), measurebiosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature,perspiration, or brain waves), identify a person (e.g., voiceidentification, retinal identification, facial identification,fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram basedidentification), and the like. The motion components 734 may includeacceleration sensor components (e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensorcomponents, rotation sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth.The environmental components 736 may include, for example, illuminationsensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components(e.g., one or more thermometer that detect ambient temperature),humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g.,barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphonesthat detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g.,infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensors (e.g., gasdetection sensors to detection concentrations of hazardous gases forsafety or to measure pollutants in the atmosphere), or other componentsthat may provide indications, measurements, or signals corresponding toa surrounding physical environment. The position components 738 mayinclude location sensor components (e.g., a GPS receiver component),altitude sensor components (e.g., altimeters or barometers that detectair pressure from which altitude may be derived), orientation sensorcomponents (e.g., magnetometers), and the like.

Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 718 may include communication components 740 operableto couple the machine 700 to a network 737 or devices 729 via coupling724 and coupling 722, respectively. For example, the communicationcomponents 740 may include a network interface component or othersuitable device to interface with the network 737. In further examples,communication components 740 may include wired communication components,wireless communication components, cellular communication components,near field communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (e.g.,Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communicationcomponents to provide communication via other modalities. The devices729 may be another machine 700 or any of a wide variety of peripheraldevices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via a USB).

Moreover, the communication components 740 may detect identifiers orinclude components operable to detect identifiers. For example, thecommunication components 740 may include radio frequency identification(RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components,optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detectone-dimensional bar codes such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code,multi-dimensional bar codes such as Quick Response (QR) code, Azteccode, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2Dbar code, and other optical codes), or acoustic detection components(e.g., microphones to identify tagged audio signals). In addition, avariety of information may be derived via the communication components740, such as location via Internet Protocol (IP) geolocation, locationvia Wi-Fi® signal triangulation, location via detecting a NFC beaconsignal that may indicate a particular location, and so forth.

Glossary

“CARRIER SIGNAL,” in this context, refers to any intangible medium thatis capable of storing, encoding, or carrying transitory ornon-transitory instructions 710 for execution by the machine 700, andincludes digital or analog communications signals or other intangiblemedium to facilitate communication of such instructions 710.Instructions 710 may be transmitted or received over the network 106using a transitory or non-transitory transmission medium via a networkinterface device and using any one of a number of well-known transferprotocols.

“CLIENT DEVICE,” in this context, refers to any machine 700 thatinterfaces to a communications network 106 to obtain resources from oneor more server systems or other client devices 102. A client device 102may be, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, desktop computer, laptop,PDAs, smart phones, tablets, ultra books, netbooks, laptops,multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, game consoles, set-top boxes, or any other communicationdevice that a user may use to access a network 106.

“COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK,” in this context, refers to one or moreportions of a network 106 that may be an ad hoc network, an intranet, anextranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), awireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), ametropolitan area network (MAN), the Internet, a portion of theInternet, a portion of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), aplain old telephone service (POTS) network, a cellular telephonenetwork, a wireless network, a Wi-Fi® network, another type of network,or a combination of two or more such networks. For example, a network106 or a portion of a network may include a wireless or cellular networkand the coupling may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)connection, a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) connection,or other type of cellular or wireless coupling. In this example, thecoupling may implement any of a variety of types of data transfertechnology, such as Single Carrier Radio Transmission Technology(1×RTT), Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) technology, General PacketRadio Service (GPRS) technology, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution(EDGE) technology, third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) including3G, fourth generation wireless (4G) networks, Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA),Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Long TermEvolution (LTE) standard, others defined by various standard settingorganizations, other long range protocols, or other data transfertechnology.

“EPHEMERAL MESSAGE,” in this context, refers to a message 300 that isaccessible for a time-limited duration. An ephemeral message may be atext, an image, a video, and the like. The access time for the ephemeralmessage may be set by the message sender. Alternatively, the access timemay be a default setting or a setting specified by the recipient.Regardless of the setting technique, the message 300 is transitory.

“MACHINE-READABLE MEDIUM,” in this context, refers to a component,device, or other tangible media able to store instructions 710 and datatemporarily or permanently and may include, but is not limited to,random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), buffer memory, flashmemory, optical media, magnetic media, cache memory, other types ofstorage (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)) or anysuitable combination thereof. The term “machine-readable medium” shouldbe taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., acentralized or distributed database, or associated caches and servers)able to store instructions 710. The term “machine-readable medium” shallalso be taken to include any medium, or combination of multiple media,that is capable of storing instructions 710 (e.g., code) for executionby a machine 700, such that the instructions 710, when executed by oneor more processors 704 of the machine 700, cause the machine 700 toperform any one or more of the methodologies described herein.Accordingly, a “machine-readable medium” refers to a single storageapparatus or device, as well as “cloud-based” storage systems or storagenetworks that include multiple storage apparatus or devices. The term“machine-readable medium” excludes signals per se.

“COMPONENT,” in this context, refers to a device, physical entity, orlogic having boundaries defined by function or subroutine calls, branchpoints, APIs, or other technologies that provide for the partitioning ormodularization of particular processing or control functions. Componentsmay be combined via their interfaces with other components to carry outa machine process. A component may be a packaged functional hardwareunit designed for use with other components and a part of a program thatusually performs a particular function of related functions. Componentsmay constitute either software components (e.g., code embodied on amachine-readable medium) or hardware components. A “hardware component”is a tangible unit capable of performing certain operations and may beconfigured or arranged in a certain physical manner. In various exampleembodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone computersystem, a client computer system, or a server computer system) or one ormore hardware components of a computer system (e.g., a processor or agroup of processors) may be configured by software (e.g., an applicationor application portion) as a hardware component that operates to performcertain operations as described herein.

A hardware component may also be implemented mechanically,electronically, or any suitable combination thereof. For example, ahardware component may include dedicated circuitry or logic that ispermanently configured to perform certain operations. A hardwarecomponent may be a special-purpose processor, such as afield-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an ASIC. A hardware componentmay also include programmable logic or circuitry that is temporarilyconfigured by software to perform certain operations. For example, ahardware component may include software executed by a general-purposeprocessor 708 or other programmable processor. Once configured by suchsoftware, hardware components become specific machines (or specificcomponents of a machine 700) uniquely tailored to perform the configuredfunctions and are no longer general-purpose processors 708. It will beappreciated that the decision to implement a hardware componentmechanically, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or intemporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may bedriven by cost and time considerations. Accordingly, the phrase“hardware component” (or “hardware-implemented component”) should beunderstood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that isphysically constructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), ortemporarily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manneror to perform certain operations described herein. Consideringembodiments in which hardware components are temporarily configured(e.g., programmed), each of the hardware components need not beconfigured or instantiated at any one instance in time. For example,where a hardware component comprises a general-purpose processor 708configured by software to become a special-purpose processor, thegeneral-purpose processor 708 may be configured as respectivelydifferent special-purpose processors (e.g., comprising differenthardware components) at different times. Software accordingly configuresa particular processor 708 or processors 704, for example, to constitutea particular hardware component at one instance of time and toconstitute a different hardware component at a different instance oftime.

Hardware components can provide information to, and receive informationfrom, other hardware components. Accordingly, the described hardwarecomponents may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Wheremultiple hardware components exist contemporaneously, communications maybe achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuitsand buses) between or among two or more of the hardware components. Inembodiments in which multiple hardware components are configured orinstantiated at different times, communications between such hardwarecomponents may be achieved, for example, through the storage andretrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiplehardware components have access. For example, one hardware component mayperform an operation and store the output of that operation in a memorydevice to which it is communicatively coupled. A further hardwarecomponent may then, at a later time, access the memory device toretrieve and process the stored output.

Hardware components may also initiate communications with input oroutput devices, and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection ofinformation). The various operations of example methods described hereinmay be performed, at least partially, by one or more processors 704 thatare temporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configuredto perform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors 704 may constitute processor-implementedcomponents that operate to perform one or more operations or functionsdescribed herein. As used herein, “processor-implemented component”refers to a hardware component implemented using one or more processors704. Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented, with a particular processor 708 or processors 704being an example of hardware. For example, at least some of theoperations of a method may be performed by one or more processors 704 orprocessor-implemented components. Moreover, the one or more processors704 may also operate to support performance of the relevant operationsin a “cloud computing” environment or as a “software as a service”(SaaS). For example, at least some of the operations may be performed bya group of computers (as examples of machines 700 including processors704), with these operations being accessible via a network 106 (e.g.,the Internet) and via one or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., an API).The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed amongthe processors, not only residing within a single machine 700, butdeployed across a number of machines. In some example embodiments, theprocessors 704 or processor-implemented components may be located in asingle geographic location (e.g., within a home environment, an officeenvironment, or a server farm). In other example embodiments, theprocessors 704 or processor-implemented components may be distributedacross a number of geographic locations.

“PROCESSOR,” in this context, refers to any circuit or virtual circuit(a physical circuit emulated by logic executing on an actual processor708) that manipulates data values according to control signals (e.g.,“commands,” “op codes,” “machine code,” etc.) and which producescorresponding output signals that are applied to operate a machine 700.A processor 708 may, for example, be a CPU, a RISC processor, a CISCprocessor, a GPU, a DSP, an ASIC, a RFIC or any combination thereof. Aprocessor 708 may further be a multi-core processor having two or moreindependent processors 704 (sometimes referred to as “cores”) that mayexecute instructions 710 contemporaneously.

“TIMESTAMP,” in this context, refers to a sequence of characters orencoded information identifying when a certain event occurred, forexample giving date and time of day, sometimes accurate to a smallfraction of a second.

Changes and modifications may be made to the disclosed embodimentswithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure. These andother changes or modifications are intended to be included within thescope of the present disclosure, as expressed in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by one or moreprocessors of a client device, a plurality of events; receiving, by theclient device from a server, a configuration file comprising one or morerules for processing the plurality of events; and displaying, based onthe configuration file, the plurality of events in a summary view of acommunication session of the client device, the summary viewrepresenting messages exchanged in a plurality of conversations of thecommunication session, and the one or more rules in the configurationfile including rules for selecting which events of the plurality ofevents to display in the summary view and how the events of theplurality of events are displayed in the summary view.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising applying a machine learning model to theplurality of events to select a portion of the plurality of events thathave a high likelihood of importance to a user.
 3. The method of claim2, wherein the machine learning model comprises a neural network that istrained based on past conversations in which the user was involved toidentify patterns of user behavior.
 4. The method of claim 2, whereinthe machine learning model is trained on a per user basis.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein the plurality of events are received from aplurality of channels, wherein the plurality of channels comprises atleast two of a first channel that provides data from a server to theclient device in response to a request from the client device tosynchronize data with the server, a second channel that comprises abi-directional connection between the client device and a second clientdevice, or a third channel that provides data from the server to theclient device without receiving a request from the client device.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: determining that a first event ofthe plurality of events is associated with a first event type and that asecond event of the plurality of events is associated with a secondevent type; assigning, based on the configuration file, a first priorityto the first event based on the first event type and a second priorityto the second event based on the second event type; and displaying, bythe client device, the first event and the second event according to thefirst priority and the second priority
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinone of the plurality of events is received over a channel that providesephemeral events comprising presence messages, wherein the presencemessages indicate activity being performed by a user comprising at leastone of typing, erasing, or viewing, and wherein the presence messagesare removed from being displayed on the client device after a thresholdperiod.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising preventing displayof a second event in response to determining that a first priority of afirst event is higher than a second priority of the second event.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the one or more rules includes at least oneof a rule that indicates an order in which events are displayed, anorder in which events received from different types of channels aredisplayed, a color associated with an icon representing a given event, asubtitle of the icon, or a timestamp that is presented.
 10. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the client device from theserver, an update to the configuration file; and modifying display ofthe plurality of events based on the update to the configuration file.11. The method of claim 1, wherein rules included in the configurationfile differ between client devices.
 12. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising determining a manner in which the plurality of events isrepresented in the summary view based on the configuration file.
 13. Asystem comprising: a processor configured to perform operationscomprising: receiving a plurality of events; receiving, by a clientdevice from a server, a configuration file comprising one or more rulesfor processing the plurality of events; and displaying, based on theconfiguration file, the plurality of events in a summary view of acommunication session of the client device, the summary viewrepresenting messages exchanged in a plurality of conversations of thecommunication session, and the one or more rules in the configurationfile including rules for selecting which events of the plurality ofevents to display in the summary view and how the events of theplurality of events are displayed in the summary view.
 14. The system ofclaim 13, wherein the operations further comprise applying a machinelearning model to the plurality of events to select a portion of theplurality of events that have a high likelihood of importance to a user.15. The system of claim 14, wherein the machine learning model comprisesa neural network that is trained based on past conversations in whichthe user was involved to identify patterns of user behavior.
 16. Thesystem of claim 14, wherein the machine learning model is trained on aper user basis.
 17. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality ofevents are received from a plurality of channels, wherein the pluralityof channels comprises at least two of a first channel that provides datafrom a server to the client device in response to a request from theclient device to synchronize data with the server, a second channel thatcomprises a bi-directional connection between the client device and asecond client device, or a third channel that provides data from theserver to the client device without receiving a request from the clientdevice.
 18. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium thatincludes instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of amachine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising: receiving aplurality of events; receiving, by a client device from a server, aconfiguration file comprising one or more rules for processing theplurality of events; and displaying, based on the configuration file,the plurality of events in a summary view of a communication session ofthe client device, the summary view representing messages exchanged in aplurality of conversations of the communication session, and the one ormore rules in the configuration file including rules for selecting whichevents of the plurality of events to display in the summary view and howthe events of the plurality of events are displayed in the summary view.19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 18,wherein the operations further comprise applying a machine learningmodel to the plurality of events to select a portion of the plurality ofevents that have a high likelihood of importance to a user.
 20. Thenon-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein themachine learning model comprises a neural network that is trained basedon past conversations in which the user was involved to identifypatterns of user behavior.